Hun slo kneet sitt da hun løp ned trappene.

she

Breakdown of Hun slo kneet sitt da hun løp ned trappene.

• da: when
• sitt: her
• slå: to hit

Questions & Answers about Hun slo kneet sitt da hun løp ned trappene.

Why is it kneet sitt and not just kneet or hennes kne?

Norwegian often marks possession of body parts differently from English.

• kneet sitt literally means “the knee hers/own”, i.e. her own knee.
  
  • kne = knee (neuter noun)
  • kneet = the knee (definite form)
  • sitt = her own / his own (reflexive possessive for neuter singular)

Using sin / sitt / sine shows that the thing belongs to the grammatical subject (hun in this sentence).

You could say:

• Hun slo kneet. – “She hit (her) knee.” (body parts are often understood as belonging to the subject and the possessive can be omitted)
• Hun slo sitt kne. – also correct, but less common in everyday speech.
• Hun slo kneet sitt. – very natural and common.
• Hun slo hennes kne. – sounds wrong here, because hennes normally refers to another woman, not the subject herself.

So kneet sitt is the normal way to say her own knee in this context.

Why do we use sitt instead of hennes for “her”? What’s the difference?